And yet the first week rarely indicates what’s going to happen the rest of the season.
But lets not let that spoil the celebration that is ‘Week 1.’
Arsenal sees their second consecutive week 1 thriller. Last year they were bested by Liverpool by the inverse score. This time they win in spectacular fashion as Lacazette wastes no time opening his Arsenal account. Almost immediately though the man no one particularly likes, Jamie Vardy, levels the game! This is an interesting first 10 minutes of the year. It would be Leicesters advantage by the 2nd half but Arsenal take a very late lead. Giroud does what he seems to only be able to do and scores a thumping header off the crossbar. My word.
We got an absolute thriller for the opener so it surely must calm down, right? We then see another barn-burner as Liverpool draw 3-3 with Watford. This was a game in which I expected to see Watford sit back and defend as so many lesser teams did against Liverpool last year. This may be the only saving grace to the day for Liverpool as they seem to have found a solution to those teams with the pace of Mané and now Salah. If Liverpool have any chance at a title run this year it must be like 13-14 when they outscored their opponents. The defense seems to have the same issues although Mignolet has performed better and better since the tail end of last season.
There are so many things we could talk about with Everton. Whether it’s the entirely new team or the still incoming transfers (Sigurdsson). It’s almost easy to forget that Wayne Rooney is again a Toffee. But he just has to remind you. Scoring the only and winning goal for his boyhood club 13 years after his exit at 18. I was 15 when this happened and Jose Mourinho had still yet to depart Porto. How things have changed. Perhaps one thing that hasn’t changed is Rooney himself as he still scores goals and still presumedly sleeps with a vacuum cleaner on (Yes this is true, look it up).
New boys Huddersfield got an emphatic win at Palace. Palace is one of my pics to go down. I know it’s early and i know they have talent but much like QPR’s last PL team I see them dropping despite all that. I do say congrats to Huddersfield as they will quickly learn that points in this league are hard to come by.
Chelsea played up to expectations. The expectations being over the last couple of years that last years league winners must play like a mid-table team the next year. Except they hardly did even that. They lost 3-1 with 9 men against Burnley. They can’t afford any injuries this year as they already have a paper thin squad. Perhaps the man who personifies pure-chaos and has looked 40 years old since he was 8, Diego Costa, is the catalyst to this team performing. Good news Chelsea fans it is still only week one after all.
Brighton put up a valiant effort on their return to The Premier League. They kept City at bay until the second half. It looks like City still have yet to mesh together but they are my favorites this year.
Oh and United look really good. Nothing feels better than an opening day demolition of West Ham. Any team that has Lukaku is going to stand a chance with a half decent squad around him. That said, Pogba looks motivated this year and the underperforming players of last year all seemed to have real drive on Sunday. As stated earlier, week 1 means nothing but if United continue to play like this then have to give the league a real run this year.
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